2010

For the children that harvest your cocoa
For the slaves the mine minerals for your phone
for the boys made soldiers
for the women that pick your coffee
for the men that tap the rubber for your tires
for the captives making the shoes you wear
for the enslaved families that harvest the fruits on your plate
for the people abused to make the players for your tunes
for girls that weave the rugs under your feet
for the children captured to fulfill men’s darkest sins

This installation was built at Big Bend, on the banks of the Rio Grande rives, in late February of 2010. It draws inspiration from the work of Andrew Goldsworthy, incorporating orange fabric, as the symbol of the movement to end globals slavery. Unlike Goldsworhty’s art though, which remains in place at the mercy of the elements, the Ring of Freedom was to remain intact only for as long as I stayed there. By the end of my stay there, the removal of the orange fabric would partially bring down the Ring.

There was an element of dependency on nature, and its cycles, though. Creeping shadows were part of the project, and as the photos show, they disappear as the sun sinks behind the cliffs on the west bank of the Rio Grande.

I am taking a break from a number of flows, or lines here. The final day of my trip still remains to be documented. The main lessons learned from that trip also await in the digital ink well. I am not watching my usual movie episode while I eat lunch. It feels like God is calling again. I feel like the spiritual phone has rung twice, and things are stirring in my soul again. I imagine myself like Samuel, being called by the Lord, and not answering him, being confused by a perceived source of the call. Let me try to explain.

Sometime in 2009, I feel like the first call came in. I was attending a talk by Dale Dawson on his work in Africa through Bridge2Rwanda, and his effort to help rebuild this nation. At that time, for days, I felt my spirit and energy moved towards trying to figure out how to put my God given talents into service for a project like this. Over time, though, I let myself be buried by the day to day things of my life. A small flame, which actually had started burning before that talk, still kept burning. A flame driven by the thought that our activities and practices, should not be divorced from the notion that in this world, things are more linked together than ever. A flame fanned by the knowledge that the choices we exercise in consumption, including eating, our clothes, our tires, and our precious digital gadgetry have a profound impact on the lives of people across the globe.

Yesterday, God hit me over the head with a not so subtle hammer, to make me understand why I had been able to open my eyes that morning. At 7 pm last night, my team at work recorded and delivered over the web a presentation on human trafficking and slavery, entitled Not For Sale. The presenter, David Batstone, delivered a powerful and hard-hitting talk about the variety of aspects of our lives that invisibly, for us, are touched by slavery. He covered sex trade practices here and abroad, tires, chocolate, and cell phones, to name just a few. David is more than an academician. He is a creative thinker and writer that does not allow himself to be distracted by the enormity of the task at hand. Like writing a book, in which the author plows through page by page, he moves forward in his humanitarian and faith-driven mission to end exploitation of people. Through the Not For Sale campaign, he offers a wealth of information, and a starting point for creative initiatives, for each of us to be driven to become part of the solution, and leverage, to end slavery.

As a Christian, I have come to believe that the true church lives outside the walls of the buildings where we congregate on Sundays to praise our Lord. It is what we do outside, in our day to day lives that really will bring about the Kingdom of God, and glory to His Name. So the challenge for us, believers and non-believers, is right in from of us. The history of our faith is high lighted by the delivery of the Jewish people from the bondage of Egypt, symbolized by one of the most monumental visions, the parting of a sea, to see them through to freedom, and to drown the forces of their oppression. In a more significant gesture though, God sent His only Son to live on this earth, and suffer and die, in indescribable pain, to free us from the slavery of sin. How are we, who are indebted to God into eternity, dealing with, or ignoring, slavery in this world that we have been entrusted with?

How can I use my talents, and passions in life to help in this campaign for freedom? What are first steps in hearing this call? My mind has been in a slow boil since last night. For me it will start with a few things. Firstly, I will continue, my practices around coffee. Starting last year, I have only bought Fair Trade coffee. Further, I stay away from convenience, and do not prepare coffee with the now infamous ‘Coffee Pods’, such as the ones sold by Keurig, as they only occasionally use fair trade coffee, and produce literally mountains of unrecyclable plastic pods. On a side note, it is ironic that one of the pod providers is Green Mountain Coffee.

Next on my list is tires. A little known fact to the non-biker community is that motorcycles go through tires a lot more quickly than cars. This is due to the physics of motorcycling, and how the shape and composition of tires us an essential, and critical component of steering. I will be careful in my selection of tires for my car, and motorcycle (http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/1208-07.htm).

Other areas in simmer? I have been dreaming for about two years of setting up a benefit that is directly driven by my passion for long distance motorcycle travel. Like march of dimes, I have envisioned a benefit where contributors pledge a certain amount per mile ridden on certain events. As I write believe I will call it Miles to Break Chains. Will you join?